The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1887-10-18
WHY?

W II
In her Thursday night lecture at
Ross opera house, Mrs Mary Lathrap,
with considerable force of expression,
said that man owning home In As
toria should be ashamed to attempt to
fasten portion of his taxes on the sa-
loon business. Why? Are thrift, So
briefly and self-denial to bear all the
expense of government Is it crime
to own property? Ninety-nine hun
dredths of the men that own homes In
Astoria or anywhere else have worked
hard for the money that built or
bought that home. Every dollar rep
resents earnest effort, hard work, self
denial But according to Mrs. Lath-
rap, earnest effort, hard work and self
denial should be taxed, and he who
squanders his property, dissipates his
money and lodges the duty imposed
by God and man should be allowed
to go untaxed.
Proudhon, the great communist,
says Property is robbery" Mrs.
Lathrap, the great prohibitionist, says
virtually the same thing, only she gets
there by different route.
II man is to be punished by exces-
sive taxation for the crime of accumu-
lating property, of working hard for
his family and providing home, of
putting away something for his de-
clining years, what incentive is there
to self-sacrifce? Pleasure, ease, hu-
man inclination say "dress vel, live
well, spend your money, have good
time" Prudence, sobriety, economy,
and other instincts of human nature,
say "go slow, save, have q home, be
temperate, moderate, self-denying."
The man who follows the latter die
tates accumulates something, has
property to be taxed: the man who
yields to the former has nothing, dies
in want, and leaves his unfortunate
progeny to the mercies of cold world,
and is an expense, living and dead, to
the community.
Let him who buys the liquor pay
well for his indulgence: let the con-
sumner help pay the burden of tax, for
it is the consumer, be he rich or poor,
that really pays the restricting tax on
liquor sales known as license; and
thus place a premium on the sober,
the temperate and the self-denying
man, the man who is a prohibition
law unto himself, and who calls for
no prohibition law 'Hold me, or I'll
get drunk"
THE AsToRIAS's proposition, which
Mrs. Lathrap and others think SO silly,
is that the saloon should be made to
pay its full share of municipal ex-
pense. 1t should not be- allowed to
60 free and saddle all the tax, all the
burden, all the expense, on property,
on sobriety, on what is usually be-
ieved to be the solid wealth and
mainstay Of the community.
The prohibitionists virtually say
the liquor traffic should not be taxed.
The Historian says it should. The
prohibitionists virtually say that a
man should be taxed heavily if
he has home. THE Historian
thinks that the element that makes
proportionately the most expense in
courts and police protection should
be made to pay its full share of the
taxes thus made necessary, and is will
ing to leave the matter to the calm,
unbiased judgment of any thinking
person, only saying to those who up
hold and applaud Mrs. Lathrap's
proposition that they should not in
Judging anything, mistake their preju-
dices for their principles. People
sometimes get their prejudices and
principles mixed.
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